NBA PLAYOFFS : AGUIRRE AND MOTTA . . . : FAMILY FEUD : Styles of Maverick Star and Coach Cause Collision of Pout and Clout

A pout almost always adorns Mark Aguirre’s face on the basketball court. It may be Aguirre’s most prominent feature, even more distinctive than a lower body that should have a wide-load sign attached.

But if the pout seems more pronounced these days, maybe bordering on a full-scale scowl, it is because Aguirre once again is not totally happy with life as a Dallas Maverick.

That is hardly news to anyone familiar with Aguirre’s often stormy career in the National Basketball Assn. In five seasons at Dallas, Aguirre has averages of 25 points a game and 2.1 confrontations a year with Coach Dick Motta. Given the strong personalities of player and coach, conflicts seem inevitable. Aguirre, 26, is a 6-6, 232-pound small forward with enormous offensive talent and, some say, an ego to match. Motta, 54, is a driven coach with 754 victories in 18 seasons and, some say, an ego considerably larger than his diminutive frame.

Maybe they are too much alike to live in harmony. Or maybe not enough alike.

Both have burning desires to win and strong opinions they aren’t afraid to share. But the difference is that Aguirre epitomizes the enigmatic player whose moods change almost daily, while Motta always plays the tough guy.

This, one Dallas columnist cracked, is a marriage made in Las Vegas.

The fact is, though, that Motta and Aguirre are still together and are trying to take the Mavericks into the Western Conference final for the first time in their history. Dallas will play the Lakers in Game 1 of their conference semifinal series Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at the Forum. The second game will be Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Forum.

“Listen,” said Motta, naturally perturbed with questions about his relationship with Aguirre, “this isn’t as big as you might think. It’s not as lusty as you want it to be.”

True, they aren’t constantly feuding. But their arguments have been lusty enough to become a concern to Dallas fans, much in the manner of the Danny White-Gary Hogeboom debate.

Some even think that this clash could be what will keep Dallas from taking the next step toward joining the NBA’s elite teams. Ultimately, it may result in either Aguirre or Motta leaving town.

The usual unfolding of these well-publicized tiffs: Aguirre does something on the court that irks Motta. Motta yells and then yanks Aguirre from the game. Aguirre sulks. Motta fumes. They exchange words in the locker room afterward. They meet later and, temporarily, patch up differences.

Motta said there is no feud, at least in the traditional sense.

“I’ve been a witness to most of what you’re talking about, but there is no feud between us,” he said. “There are rules to society and a team that people have to live by. If you don’t follow the rules. . . . “

Aguirre, on the other hand, said there are serious problems. He said he’s trying to avoid further confrontations before the damage becomes irreparable.

“It’s really a delicate situation,” he said. “Now, I would really run away from any confrontation. If anything happens on the court, I know there’s going to be a confrontation. I’m trying to tune it out. I don’t know how long it will last, but I hope one day I can get past this and stop having to analyze it.”

Usually, that is left to the Dallas media. But even the columnists are split on this issue. Randy Galloway of the Morning News generally sides with Motta; Skip Bayless of the Times Herald sides with Aguirre. Several reporters have started attaching Roman numerals to the more memorable confrontations.

MOTTA-AGUIRRE I

Even before they officially had a relationship, it was strained. The story goes that, near the end of Aguirre’s junior year at DePaul, Motta scouted one of the Blue Demons’ games. He reportedly told Maverick officials that Aguirre played to the crowd with his one-on-one style. Early in the summer of 1981, after both Aguirre and guard Isiah Thomas had made themselves available for the NBA draft, Motta interviewed Thomas in Dallas and was ruffled at Thomas’ apparent unwillingness to play under Motta’s structured system.

Motta said to Dallas reporters who were asking about Aguirre and Thomas: “If I’m going to draft an (bleep), I’m going to draft one 6-6 instead of 6-1.”

Then, after Aguirre’s rookie season, in which he came off the bench toward the end, Motta vowed that there would be no more animosity between him and Aguirre.

“It’s just like breaking a wild horse,” Motta told reporters. “I’ve rode him hard. I’ve said things to him I wouldn’t say to my dog.” When motivated and given the freedom of self-expression, Mark Aguirre can do almost anything he wants without turning an offense into a one-on-five matchup. Using positioning and his considerable bulk, Aguirre can score inside over most taller and heavier players. Using a deft shooting touch, he can score from almost anywhere.

Exhibit A: On Jan. 28, 1985, the same day Aguirre learned that he had not been voted onto the 1984-85 All-Star team, Aguirre had the motivation and was fed the ball. He scored 49 points to lead the Mavericks to a 111-109 victory over Philadelphia.

The problem is that Aguirre doesn’t always appear self-motivated, and Motta seldom gives him freedom with the ball.

Therein lies the core of the dispute. Aguirre is free-lance, and Motta is structured. Since Motta is the coach, Aguirre adjusts, but not happily.

Although Aguirre’s scoring average is down from 29.5 points in 1983-84 to 22.6 this season, Aguirre ranked third among NBA forwards in assists with an average of 4.6, and averaged 6 rebounds a game.

“I’ve toned my game down quite a bit, and that’s tough for a player like me to do,” Aguirre said. “I’m more of an L.A. (Laker)-type player. I like to free-lance. I like to show my moves, and I do have the moves.

“If I was somewhere else, you’d see a lot more, more shocking (point) production. But I was drafted by Dallas. I never said I didn’t want to be drafted by Dallas and I never said I did want to be drafted by Dallas. It just happened. You know, to score 40 points is not a big task for me. I could get that most games. In some ways, I miss (scoring). Those days are gone. “I still can be a superstar. I have the ability. . . . But I guess you have to think long-term goals. They drafted me to play this type of ball. If (Motta’s) style is going to win a championship, I want to be a part of it.”

Lately, though, Aguirre has been wondering what it would be like to play for a fast-breaking team. All he can do is wonder, since Motta’s deliberate offense has been relatively successful the last three seasons.

Said Motta: “I’ve never stifled any player yet. His creativity has never been stifled. You don’t stifle players’ creativity and survive as a coach. Things have to be done within a team framework.”

This season, Motta has tried to alter aspects of Aguirre’s game that he deems detrimental to the team. Motta said he has tried to make Aguirre “stop loafing back on defense, leave the officials alone and work on his court demeanor.”

It is the contention of Motta as well as of Dr. Charles Tucker, a friend and adviser of Aguirre, Thomas and Magic Johnson, that Aguirre shows too much emotion on the court.

“I think there are a lot of times when his emotions get in the way,” Motta said. “He shows it more than other players. He’s got to stop wearing his emotions on his sleeve.”

Said Tucker: “Mark does a lot of things he shouldn’t, and Mark knows that. Mark uses that sulk, and it’s an unnecessary expression.”

According to Aguirre, Motta’s attempt to make him a poker-faced player is smothering his enthusiasm.

“When I show my emotions, that’s just part of me getting totally into the game,” Aguirre said. “I like doing that. Not doing it takes part of my game away. Part of my self-confidence is showing how I feel, sometimes even to show flamboyancy.

“If I had been drafted in Los Angeles, it probably would have been looked on as a positive thing. I mean, Byron Scott is flamboyant. James Worthy is, Kareem is, in a way. They are allowed to show their emotions. That’s partly because (Pat) Riley is a player’s coach.”

In Aguirre’s mind, there are only three small better small forwards in the NBA--Larry Bird, Alex English and Worthy.

Aguirre fears that his talents never will be fully used. He talks, somewhat wistfully, of his rendezvous with Magic and Isiah each summer back in Michigan and how both players are “amazed” by his moves.

“They realize my situation, but they remember what I’m capable of,” Aguirre said. “They can only see the real me in the summer.”

Motta admits that there are times when “nobody can stop” Aguirre, but he believes that there are other times when Aguirre stops himself and his teammates. That manifests itself in the form of pouting and floating, two habits that would probably irritate any coach.

It is Motta’s belief that team rules should not be compromised, even for the best player.

“I don’t have truces,” he said. “I have rules and solve problems for the society of the team. If anybody has trouble with it, it’s too bad. It’s the rules. You have to follow them. There is no feud. If some guy goes to jail, that doesn’t mean he has a feud with President Reagan.”

The tiffs, even if Motta doesn’t acknowledge them as such, have hurt the reputations of both, especially Aguirre.

“I still think I didn’t make the All-Star team this year because of my confrontations with Coach Motta,” Aguirre said. “It’s not that (the coaches, who vote for the team) sided with Motta; it’s the fact that they consider your off-the-court appeal. To get in an argument with your coach doesn’t look good.

“This has torn down the perception of me. I’m not the best person to work with. I know that. But I’m far from the worst. I know what other guys say to coaches. I think a lot of coaches would be glad to coach me.

“In order for me not to come across as a hard person to coach, I’m going to have to really swallow a lot of pride. I can’t win in this situation.”

Tucker, hardly an objective party, naturally defends Aguirre.

“Motta likes to be in control,” Tucker said. “He’s had similar problems at Washington and Chicago with his stars. Motta calls me sometimes, and I find him a caring person, but always wanting to be in control.

“None of the top 10 stars in the NBA would take as much off (Motta) as Mark has. Bird? Not for two seconds. Kareem? No way. Magic, well, you know what happened when he didn’t get along with a coach. Isiah, no. Mark is not blameless in this thing, but he has tolerated a lot.”

Donald Carter, the Maverick owner, is about as neutral a party as there is in this situation. And Carter, although saying he is close to Aguirre, unflinchingly supports his coach.

“I made a deal with Dick in the back of a pickup truck up at a lake, that he calls the shots,” Carter said. “He can be as rough or as easy on players as he needs to be.”

MOTTA-AGUIRRE II

In a mid-December game at Milwaukee during the 1984-85 season, Aguirre showed a distinct lack of hustle in the opening minutes and was benched. All told, Aguirre played only 11 minutes in the game and wore a pained expression all the way to the locker room.

Once there, Motta called Aguirre a quitter. Aguirre, who has a long-term contract, suggested a trade. Motta said no one would take him. “I’ll let him rot on the end of the bench before I send him someplace and let him make a fool of me,” Motta said. “Thirteen years is a long time on the bench.”

Said Aguirre, later: “At that point, I shut up.”

Long before he arrived in Dallas, Aguirre had a reputation as a moody and sometimes emotionally unstable player. He also happened to be arguably the best college basketball player in 1980-81.

Sadly, though, Aguirre may be best remembered for what he did after his final college game. DePaul, ranked No. 1 in the nation, had been upset by St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia on a last-second shot.

Aguirre took the ball and headed for the door. Then he took off his jersey and threw it aside. He went into the locker room, grabbed his clothes and Walkman and started walking down the highway to the team’s hotel.

Despite obvious immaturity and a thirst for stardom, there always was a place on a team for Aguirre. Growing up in a Chicago ghetto, Aguirre went through various stages: fat kid playing pickup games; high-school standout who did what he pleased on and off the court; college superstar who returned a local university to basketball prominence.

“I’ve always had a lot of self-confidence,” Aguirre said. “I never thought there were many players better than me.”

That’s because there weren’t. Aguirre knew he was good and told you so. Before he turned 20, Aguirre was a star in Chicago. That’s when his immaturity showed.

Sometimes, Aguirre argued with Coach Ray Meyer on the sideline during games. When Aguirre questioned Meyer’s decision once, he was thrown out of a practice in front of reporters. Joey Meyer, now the head coach but then an assistant to his father, resented Aguirre’s one-on-one tendencies.

Aguirre also used to hide in the coach’s office to avoid interviews and admiring fans.

“I was ready for the actual game of college basketball but not that ready emotionally to be an individual, a big star,” Aguirre told the Times Herald. “Not that soon. No way.”

After his junior year at DePaul, in which he averaged 23 points a game, Aguirre apparently thought he was ready, physically and emotionally.

MOTTA-AGUIRRE III

Almost a year to the day after their infamous disagreement in Milwaukee, Motta and Aguirre staged an altercation in Atlanta that resulted in Aguirre’s first and, so far, only team-imposed suspension.

This one began after Aguirre had flattened Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins under Dallas’ basket. Rather than returning down the court to play defense, Aguirre chose to help Wilkins to his feet. Motta yanked Aguirre, who then refused to re-enter the game when Motta later beckoned.

Motta slapped Aguirre with a two-game suspension that ended Dec. 24. Merry Christmas, Mark. As usual, Aguirre later showed remorse for his actions, but Motta didn’t.

“I know I was wrong in some of the things I’ve said,” Aguirre said.

Mark Aguirre does not smile often, at least not in public.

“I’m working on trying to make him smile more,” Tucker said. “People want to see him smile, but he can’t do it if he doesn’t feel it.”

For more reasons than just Motta, Aguirre has had trouble smiling lately. Aguirre’s mother, Mary, has liver cancer. Mark said that his mother, just 42, is doing better but that it’s only a matter of time.

Aguirre’s mother told him the news a few days before the playoffs, and it hit Mark hard. Suddenly, he said, basketball problems didn’t mean as much.

“I can’t put it aside,” said Aguirre, his voice at a whisper. “I’d rather put basketball away. I’m thinking about my mom all the time. It’s made me put basketball probably where it’s supposed to be. I do want to win the series against Utah, but if we lost, I don’t think it would bother me.

“I didn’t have a father. She’s everything to me.”

Donald Carter says he wants to be Aguirre’s surrogate father. On occasion, Aguirre has let him.

The Maverick owner says he has a good relationship with all his players but he has taken a special liking to Aguirre. “I consider him like a son,” Carter says.

Carter and his wife sometimes go fishing with Aguirre. Aguirre often is invited to dinner and, even more often, for long talks.

“Let me say first (that) a lot of the raps you’ve heard about Mark, he deserves,” Carter said. “You’ve got to realize that he’s still immature. It’s a lot to do with his background. In his position, he keeps striking out at the world.

“Mark wants to please people, he does. One time, I told him, ‘Linda Jo (Carter’s wife) tells me you’re a crybaby and you pout on the court, Mark.’ He was so upset. It hurt him that my wife thought that. I’ve talked harsh and rough to Mark. But he’s a fine person. Put him with kids and he’ll stay and help them all day.”

Almost every day during the season, Tucker receives a phone call from Aguirre in Dallas or some other NBA stopover.

“Sometimes it’s two or three times a day,” Tucker said. “He calls and, usually, he knows he’s wrong but he wants to hear that he’s right. I’m not going to tell him what he wants to hear. Mark and I have gone the rounds. I tell him, ‘Don’t make excuses for yourself.’ He usually hangs up feeling better.”

Aguirre, who rarely publicly analyzes himself, said he is happiest when all he has to think about is basketball.

“I’ve changed the last few years,” he said. “I worry about a lot more than just playing, and I hate to worry about those things.”

MOTTA-AGUIRRE IV

Gearing up for the playoffs, Aguirre and Motta had a few relatively tame late-season run-ins.

One occurred April 7 in Sacramento. Aguirre had hoisted a questionable shot and then immediately fouled the opposing rebounder in the final minute of a narrow Maverick loss. Motta called a timeout and yanked Aguirre, who apparently didn’t realize he had been benched.

When the timeout ended, Aguirre, apparently unwittingly, walked back on the court. The Mavericks were almost assessed a technical foul for having six men on the court.

Will this so-called marriage made in Las Vegas end up in a Mexican divorce? In other words, will the Motta-Aguirre relationship ever become so strained that one of them will go?

Everybody has an opinion.

Writes Bayless, the Times Herald columnist: “(Aguirre) seems trapped in a game and a system run by a man, Dick Motta, who sometimes preys on Aguirre’s vulnerability to keep him from becoming too big a star.”

Writes Galloway, the Morning News columnist: “ . . . Once you take the leash off Aguirre, there’s going to be obedience problems, well-documented problems that go back to Mark’s college days at DePaul . . . Aguirre became a mutt, a trade waiting to happen.”

The way Aguirre and his advisers are talking, they’d welcome a trade. As Tucker tactfully said: “Their situation might be resolved if they are separated. It’s like some marriages. These two simply can’t co-exist. It happens in this business.”

After the December dispute in Atlanta, Carter reportedly gave Motta the option to trade Aguirre, but no deal was struck.

Said Aguirre: “I think he’d be afraid to trade me. Because if I went to another team and, physically and mentally, things went well, I would produce. There’s no doubt I can produce. I might be the missing piece to a championship team.”

Carter wants both to stay, but he has made it clear that Motta won’t be the one to go if one has to.